So Halo 4's "Creative Director" quit. About a year before the game is due. Early enough in development that no known gameplay footage exists, we know nothing of the single-player storyline, the multiplayer modes, the enemies, the allies, the weapons, the equipment or the setting. And already Ryan Payton's had enough.
The straw that broke the camel's back was apparently Microsoft keeping a short leash on what their new team can do with the franchise. This does not fill me with confidence. It's bad enough they're focusing on that worthless green turd just to satiate the demands of dumb-ass kids too young to be playing an M-rated game in the first place. And "Creative Director" is a pretty vague job title.
But if the people they specifically hired to get creative with their franchise are so restricted from creativity that they start rage-quitting, somehow I doubt they've got a handle on this video game thing. And after this many years, this company really should know better by now.
I remember how pissed off I was at Fox and Universal for pulling out of funding a Halo feature film, directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson, with full support from Weta Workshop. I always thought it was Fox and Universal being a bunch of penny-pinching dickheads. But maybe they know something we don't. Maybe Microsoft is too protective of its IP, without realizing how much it's choking the life out of it.
On the other hand, they've got Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid alumni doing the soundtrack. That's a plus, I guess.
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So the Wii U is giving its developers a lot of shit. Apparently that whole "most powerful console on the market" thing they were relying on is also the price they're paying. It's so advanced it's not compatible with Earth technology, apparently. And that wireless tablet doesn't work. After three prototypes, dev-kits need to be tethered.
A wireless device that can't function without a connecting wire. Think about that.
This is very bad news for a company that's already trying to play damage control on the 3DS(which is barely maintaining public interest even after the price cut). I dunno, maybe if they released some games for it or something.
Or maybe if they release these games, and earned back some of the goodwill they're burning through. I dunno, I don't wanna jump on any bandwagons here just yet, and I certainly don't think this will be the end of them. If the Virtual Boy didn't kill this company, nothing will. But they're trying very hard to get me to stop wanting to give them my money.
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I was looking forward to "Dead Island". Even though I know there's no way it will ever live up to that trailer the internet fell in love with a while back, I could at least count on it to... you know, WORK. Like, to actually function on any level, unlike a certain other 4-player zombie game I could mention.
Oh wait, it's a glitchy piece of shit too. Terrific. One of the few things I was looking forward to this year is unplayable. Thanks guys. I'm sure someone else will make an open-world zombie apocalypse game with a diverse cast of characters and RPG elements any day now. Not like I haven't been waiting for this to happen all my life or anything.
*twiddles thumbs*
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~A.H.
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